Thirty-three Princeton graduate students co-created and completed the Graduate School’s inaugural Inclusive Leadership Learning Cohort (ILLC) in fall 2020. The GradFUTURES Professional Development and Access, Diversity and Inclusion teams at the Graduate School led this new initiative, partnering with graduate students to shape the program as a platform for anti-racism efforts.
The cohort’s focus on inclusive leadership is part of the University’s campus-wide campaign to confront America’s record of structural inequality and racism as well as Princeton’s place in that history. Graduate student participants in the inaugural cohort joined Princeton’s broader efforts to redress discrimination and marginalization. The cohort centers on the understanding that local action and individual commitment are paramount for achieving significant and sustainable change.
“We partnered with graduate students to design this program because we see inclusive leadership training as both critical for graduate students’ individual leadership development and essential for building a collective movement to support lasting structural change,” noted Eva Kubu, associate dean and director of professional development for the Graduate School.
The ILLC is structured as a co-curricular certificate. Participants submit a series of reflections on topics addressed in each workshop and an individual action plan outlining the next steps in moving their ideas forward at the conclusion of the series. More than 60 graduate students from all four academic divisions attended the various sessions and 33 students completed the program requirements.